Sherbert drops again

Sherbert spilled me and my pillion in Chamonix on May 4 last year and almost exactly a year ago today as I write. We were reversing a U-turn out of a dead end between two barrier-controlled carparks and I lost my footing in a culvert. Old news.

Today Sherbert stumbled into a crater hidden by a small van ahead of us when pulling out of a service station. I was looking for traffic left and Sherbert was steering mid-right to join the opposite lane of traffic. The front wheel followed contours into the void, caught us off balance, and gravity sucked us down onto our left side.

I put in a little effort to keep upright and know when to give up. It's around the time my back and knee threaten to break. The dashcan caught my verbal effort before the language turned blue.

Self righting

Helping Sherbert back upright was a doddle. I only forgot to pull the handbrake before lifting. It didn't matter and could in the future.

Checking for damage and again it's the front engine guard that took the force and rode my DCT moment on the throttle. It'll buff out. The big damage riders get must be something to do with the bike's momentum when going down. I didn't allow much. I guess that made the difference to my two experiences.

Learning too?

There's not a lot to learn except the Goldwing is vulnerable when slow and pretty easy to set back onto the rubber stuff when down. That and to include the parking brake in the righting process.

The cause wasn't negligence or lapse of concentration. It was genuinely getting cuaght our by the ill-positioned crater-sized pothole in the pavement when revealed late by the van pulling out in front.

Summary

May the Fourth be with you.